This invention relates broadly to animal feeders. More particularly, the instant invention is related to livestock feeders which are adapted to hold and dispense bulk feed to a plurality of livestock of various sizes.
In the prior art numerous techniques have been employed to feed livestock. Many of the prior art devices include a movable wagon which has a feed-receptive internal compartment and a plurality of feeding stations defined in the side wall portions thereof. An advantage to be realized with this type of construction is that separate feed areas are available for each livestock and feed may be continuously distributed from the interior of the feeder in an orderly and efficient manner. One prior art livestock feeder is shown in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,782,333, which issued on Jan. 1, 1974.
One problem associated with some prior art livestock feeders is that loose feed can often escape therefrom and fall on the ground. For example, when cows feed they often pull hay out from the feeder in oversized mouthfulls and loose hay tends to fall on the ground and is lost. It is known to provide side troughs in conjunction with feeding apparatus to prevent or minimize unnecessary dropping of feed, but the effectiveness of such an approach is minimal where large clusters or chunks of feed accumulate on the trough during the feeding process. When a cow, for example, can obtain a full-sized mouthful of feed from the side trough of the apparatus, the animal may tend to step rearwardly therefrom before commencing chewing and loose feed or hay is inevitably lost.
Another problem associated with some prior art animal feeders is that they cannot be readily adjusted to permit feeding of a plurality of different sized animals. When the feeder is adapted for use with larger cattle, for example, smaller heifers will be unable to reach the food within the apparatus through the over-sized feeding compartments therein. If large chunks of feed are too easily accessible to the livestock, the aforementioned waste problem will become significant.